Story:
Its so cliche but since it was my first manga, I didn't feel so then and was completely engrossed in it. There are many twists, some are brilliant, some are dumb. I consider myself as a sadist because my most enjoyable part throughout the anime/manga was when Elie got tortured (it happened 3 times). :D
I found it very arousing... =_=
The fight scenes are hard to tell from one another, are short and they follow the same formula, which is the hero loses and he dramatically recovers and starts kicking ass. And the blood is black. The end was also quite rushed though the story up til then was well paced.
Art: 7
Nothing special about the art though it has its own style. Everyone would look the same if it weren't for their hair basically. There isn't much to the scenery as the story doesn't cover much regions and every where is an empty plane.
Character: 8
A typical shounen manga with strong supporting characters and rather weak main characters. Many find Elie annoying but she's my favourite. She's very weak and I am disappointed that her powers weren't exploited btu I still love her, maybe its because of the sadist within me. Haru depends on a sword, so imagine if he didn't have his sword and high stamina, he would be left as a useless wimp and his techniques are just slash and run and jump and slash, he doesn't uses any special strategy whatsoever. The relationship between Haru and Elie is more of a brother and sister, not that of lovers, I choose Seighart over Haru anytime.
Musica is one character who undergoes a make over which is definitely a good thing. the characters basically are the parents of the cast of Fairtail. And also there's the manag's mascot Plue whom isn't decided on what species it actually is. Another memorable character is Reina and I give the author credit for her character's plot. I hate Ruby the retard and Julia the whore.
Enjoyment: 8
Aside from the sadism part of mine, I enjoyed this manga because I wanted to know since the beginning the mysteries the author had laid out. And I am not one bit disappointed at the unfolded stories. However, I hate the ending. It was shit. I wished the author had taken a bold step in destroying the shounen stereotype outcomes. It really ruined my reason of loving Rave.
Overall: 8
Rave was my first love and will always be my first love. I give it an '8' because of Elie and also the twists throughout the manga.
I honestly don't understand why people would rather read Fairytail than Rave because they both are dry out of ideas, at least Rave has an amnesia suffering chick :D
I know I sound very biased, but I feel that Rave is very much left in the closet, compared to Fairytail.
